Older and Younger Generations Herald the Look and Sound of Records

Thursday

Apr 14, 2011 at 2:54 PM

Vinyl music, once the standard in the music world, has been making a slow comeback for several years now, a trend that doesn't surprise those who have appreciated it for years.

In an iPod-, iTunes-, MP3-obsessed world, there are those who reject the immediateness of modern music and gravitate to a classic source, one many people grew up with and new generations are learning to love.

Vinyl music, once the standard in the music world, has been making a slow comeback for several years now, a trend that doesn't surprise those who have appreciated it for years.

Aaron Conley, 33, of Lakeland began seriously collecting vinyl music 10 years ago, when he was working at the now-closed Woodpecker Records in Lakeland, but recalled times in high school where he dabbled in collecting.

"(My friends and I) would go to record stores in Orlando, and I'd buy the stuff I really loved," said Conley, who, at the time, didn't even own a record player. "It kind of showed you were a real collector."

When he began working at Woodpecker, Conley said, his musical interests were broadened, something that drew him to vinyl music.

"At that time I could buy a classic record and it would end up being $5 with my employee discount," he said. "I just started buying all my stuff that I wanted to listen to because it was cheaper."

He now has a collection that is relatively large, numbering around 800.

That, however, is only a fraction of the records that Rico Dunsmore has.

An avid collector, Dunsmore, 60, of Lakeland estimates he has about 12,000 records in his collection, 8,500 of which are "keepers," or records that Dunsmore will not sell.

To estimate the number of records in his collection, he uses the footage of his shelves. Approximately 85 records will fit into a shelf that's 1-foot long.

Although he is no longer pursuing the business of record sales as heavily as he used to, he continues to look for records when he gets the chance.

His best finds have been through secondhand sellers, such as flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales. He said an Elvis Presley record titled "Baby Let's Play House" is the most valuable record in his collection.

He has never spent more than $75 on a record.

"Anyone who is a real music enthusiast will still tell you there is something about dropping a record on a player," he said. "It's for people that want to appreciate the quality, the separation, and the tone."

Eric Levin can't agree more. He co-founded National Record Store Day, which is Saturday this year, and is the owner of Criminal Records, a record and comic book store in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta.

"The vinyl experience is so much more compelling," he said. "LPs are something you can own, cherish, take care of, file and interact with."

Levin, a Florida native, began Record Store Day four years ago to "shine a light" on independent record stores.

"There was this weird perception that record stores were going extinct," he said. "There were tons of reasons, like the corporate record stores going out of business."

The record stores that participated, he said, got a lot of immediate attention.

"At first it was like, 'Oh, look there are record stores. That's cute,'" he said. "But the vinyl resurgence is a huge success of record stores."

Levin says there are several advantages to vinyl, but one of the most important is the ability to own it, something he says you cannot do with new technology like MP3s.

"People who have hard drives full of stuff have nothing," he said. Levin predicts that the compact disc will go through a similar resurgence or a "renaissance" as he puts it.

"I feel the CD is gonna enter a renaissance in three to five years," he said. "CDs will become valuable."

Both mediums, he says, have value.

"It's limited, precious; like a book, like art," he said. "There's a completely different tactile experience."

Conley agrees, and said that one of his favorite parts of vinyl music is the art that goes along with it.

"The artwork is bigger and cooler," he said, but said the things he enjoys about a record won't matter to others. "The person who is buying your Britney Spears CDs, do they really care about the artwork?"

Although he does not carry an iPod, Dunsmore does have a CD collection that is much smaller than his record collection.

Evolution Records in Lakeland will be celebrating Record Store Day with free live music starting at noon Saturday. That night, there will be a $3 admission fee for an electronic music concert. Levin stresses the importance of supporting local record stores.

"Hopefully the Lakeland community can understand that and say 'Man, I just had a really good time here,'" he said, after hearing about what Evolution Records was planning. "The money goes into the community. If they go to iTunes, it doesn't."

There are also several other record stores in the area participating in the celebration, including Banana's Music in St. Petersburg, which Rolling Stone Magazine names as one of the top 25 record stores in the country.

[ MyCah Pleasant may be reached at mycah.pleasant@theledger.com or 802-7550. ]

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